Wanted: $335,000 For A Press Party Bureau Pledges To Help Disney Impress Visiting Journalists

March 20, 1986|By Vicki Vaughan of The Sentinel Staff

The Orlando-Orange County Convention and Visitors Bureau promised Wednesday to give Walt Disney World $335,000 in cash that it does not have yet to help the company throw a party for 10,000 out-of-town journalists.

The party, set for Oct. 2-5, is part of Disney World's 15th anniversary celebration. Disney will invite 10,000 reporters from throughout the country to participate.

Disney has asked the tourism bureaus in Orange and Osceola counties, as well as the Florida Division of Tourism, to contribute $335,000 each to help bring the journalists to the celebration. If the state and the tourist bureaus don't ante up, Disney said, it will drop the idea. Disney plans to kick in $1.5 million of its own.

''Disney's offer is simply one we can't afford to ignore,'' bureau president John E. Evans said. Central Florida will have the chance to show the journalists what the area has to offer as a tourist destination, he said.

The non-profit bureau is responsible for increasing convention business and tourism in Central Florida. Three-fourths of its budget comes from membership fees paid by hotels, attractions, airlines and convention services companies. The remainder comes from the city of Orlando and from Orange County.

In exchange for the bureau's commitment, Disney has agreed that the bureau can entertain the journalists Oct. 2, their first night in Central Florida.

Jane Hames, chairman of the bureau's public relations committee, said the bureau probably will have a ''series of events'' planned for the visiting journalists that will culminate in a party the night of Oct. 2 at Lake Eola.

Disney has agreed to move its fireworks displays at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center to Lake Eola that night, Hames said.

All told, the bureau plans to invest $500,000 -- $335,000 in cash and the rest in services. It expects to reap a $6 million reward in terms of publicity. It is exposure the bureau could not duplicate on its own for any price, Evans said.

Because the bureau is strapped for cash, it will have to raise the money by appealing to local businesses that depend on tourism, Evans said. The bureau has a budget of about $500,000 this year.

Appeals also will be made to the Downtown Development Board, the Industrial Development Commission of Mid-Florida and others who might benefit from press exposure, Evans said.

''Nobody's going to give up the money for nothing,'' Evans said, ''but I think we can show them the benefit. There's going to be some hard selling of the area, though it will be sugar coated.''

Tom Elrod, Disney vice president of marketing and admissions, said he was pleased at the bureau's commitment. Disney World, he said, doesn't represent ''everything there is to do in Central Florida. It's right to showcase the entire area in this way.''

Elrod said he expects Osceola County officials and the Florida Division of Tourism to decide within two weeks whether to participate.

The Division of Tourism's money probably would have to come from a special legislative appropriation, said Rene Welti, agency assistant director.